open your eyes
by glowing neon
Summary: and now, all that goes round and around in my head is that you said this isn't real. but you don't seem to be able to last the night without me, darling. is this still not real for you? / peeta, katniss, false pretences and broken hearts. drabble/freeverse collection for sam.
1. just be

do you have **any** idea what you have put me through, darling?

I loved you from the start, you see, before we were thrust into all this mess.

loving you wasn't easy, though

I had to watch your best friend dance around you,

o_b_v_i_o_u_s_l_y in love with you,

while I stood there, entirely incapable of being there for you

but I was just someone that you went to school with, right?

right?

and then _this _happened.

death and destruction and death and violence and death**.**

do you have **any** idea how that worried me, darling?

frightened doesn't describe it

fear just consumed me entirely.

I could have lost you.

and I nearly did.

when you volunteered, I was torn between laughter and tears

it was such a _you_ thing to do, you see, to send yourself into the arena instead of your sister.

you just can't stop yourself protecting people, can you?

and you know what the **ironic** thing is, darling?

I set out to protect you in the arena, and yet _you_ looked after _me._

you held me and comforted me in what could have been my last moments.

and yet I was still just the boy with the bread to you, aren't I?

and then

(here's my favourite part)

_you_kissed _me._

peetaandkatnisskissed

do you have **any** idea what that did to me, darling?

you made me hope.

has anyone ever told you what a dangerous thing hope is?

it allows you to believe – even if it is just for a moment – that the odds are in your favour.

and then hope** d.i.e.s** as reality comes back into focus.

_you_told _me _you cared.

(but you were l-y-i-n-g.)

couldn't you see it, darling?

there were three little words I wanted to hear, and you denied me them.

(and even if you did say them, you'd have been l-y-i-n-g again, hmmm?)

I would – and will – do anything to save you.

I'd even go back into that arena again, if it meant saving you.

I don't even know what's happening any more, darling.

on the train, you say you didn't care. that it was an act.

and yet

{{ you hold me. I hold you. }}

we {{hold}} each other.

as we lay there all I can think about

all that goes

rOund and arOund in my head

is that you said this isn't real

(it's not real)

is it?

you don't seem to be able to last the night **without **me, darling

is this still not real for you?

I am not going to give up on this.

(I am not going to give up on you.)

peeta**and**katniss**mellark**

doesn't that sound **good **to you, darling?

even our names work well together

do you have **any** idea what you are doing to me, darling?

I can't tell right from wrong when I'm with you

black or white

real or not real, it's all the same

everything is about you, darling.

|| **y** || **o** || **u** ||

three letters that are going to drive me insane.

just think about it, darling.

I could comfort you for years to come

hold you in your nightmares

kiss you goodnight.

We could be perfect

the **G**irl **O**n **F**ire and the **B**oy **W**ith **T**he **B**read

we could just… be.

(if you'd let us.)

just know that my love for you is real

and no matter what happens in the future

that will never change.

_I love _ _you__ ._


	2. precious

**pressure and pearls**

**.**

That Capitol woman told us if you put enough **pressure** on coal, it turns into pearls.

Doesn't that sound lovely, sweetheart?

But we know better, of course.

We're all lumps of coal, back home, and we never change. At least, that's what you believe.

You think that the only change that _really _happens to us district twelve residents is the progression of coal to ash as we are burnt to keep someone else (our _captors_) warm.

I believe something else entirely. Back home, you were just another piece of coal, another dead miner's daughter.

But the moment you volunteered for your sister and thrust yourself into the pressure of the games, you changed.

Not into a pearl, no; you're too precious for that, sweetheart. You are an uncut diamond. No-one has a hold on you. You'll never fit in with _their _plans. And yet, you are still made of the same things as before – you are still _you_.

You shine in the spotlight, but you're just as perfect when no-one is watching you. Katniss, darling, you are simply gorgeous and you don't even know it. You are rare, unique.

That's why I love you so much, darling; the world we know may be slowly crumbling around us, but the Girl On Fire is there, radiant as ever, a beacon for the rest of us.

(Can't you see how precious you are to me, sweetheart?)


End file.
